Demigods and Magicians Meet at Last
by Wolfzee
Summary: A mysterious portal opens at the First Nome. The Egyptians are transported to Camp Half-Blood. Set 2 years after the Giant War and Apophis' defeat. This is my first fanfiction, so I hope you like it.
1. Chapter 1

**Hi! This is my first fanfiction, so no flames please. Also, if you see any grammatical errors outside of dialogue, can you point them out to me in the reviews! All requests will be answered, but they will not be granted unless all of the characters are in character and it can be uploaded in a chapter format. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or books. That honor belongs to Rick Riordan. *Sniffle*.**

Third person Egyptian POV

Carter, Sadie, Walt, Zia and the initiates were all at the First Nome for an "educational field trip" that Carter had suggested. The lengthy tour was almost over. They were at the last stop, Amos's war room. Suddenly, a portal opened in the wall. Each of the room's occupants, including Amos, were exchanging glances as if to say: _How did that get there? Is it safe to enter? _Sadie, wand and staff ready, warily entered first. The rest of them followed, Amos at the rear. They all spilled onto a porch surrounding a large, blue, multilevel mansion. As they surveyed their surroundings, what they saw left their mouths wide open. Sadie dropped her gum. They were in a green, lush valley. To their left, Long Island sound gleamed in the sunlight.But the most fascinating aspect of the valley lay directly ahead. A bizarre arrangement of cabins, numbering 20, was in front of them. One was bright red with spikes. Another gleamed like the moon. The three largest cabins were closed off and quiet though. In the center was a hearth tended by a girl. Sadie lowered her vision into the Duat. The girl was surrounded by a godly aura, immense in power, yet somehow serene and peaceful, homely even. From their elevated position, they saw a couple of kids playing basketball, bows and quivers strapped to their backs. Khufu surged forward, excited at the notion of his favorite sports. They saw what looked like a sword arena, which brought smiles to Carter and Julian's faces. Two kids exited what looked like a gardening shed, heavily armed. They saw strawberry fields in the distance. They saw a lake which fed a stream. All this took only a few seconds, and then the gaze of each magician turned left. A man in a wheelchair turned the corner of the porch, accompanied by another man who radiated power, yet looked feeble and drunk at the same time. The man in the wheelchair's face lit up, but after seeing Sadie's staff and wand, it fell. He, consequently, was the first to speak. His words were directed to all of them, but mainly to Sadie. "You, you should be dead."He then studied the rest of them, until his gaze came to rest on Walt. "Why did you bring them here? This is a direct violation of our oath." Walt opened his mouth, but it was Anubis who spoke. "I did not know this was where the portal would take us." He then explained the strange of events which had brought them there. The man in the wheelchair opened his mouth, but Sadie cut him off. "Who are you, and what is this place? Tell me now, or you'll feel the wrath of my staff." The thought that came to the mind of All of the Egyptians was: _And her tongue. _He replied, "Come inside, and we'll talk."

**That's it for the first chapter. Like it? Hate it? Review! Sorry I didn't write more. The rest of the chapters will be nice and long. I'll try to update at a rate of 1 chapter per day, 2 on Fridays and weekends**.


	2. Chapter 2

**NeonHedgehog: Thanks! **

**I forgot to say this earlier, but I will not hypothesize the outcome of The House of Hades. The only thing I assumed from the Heroes of Olympus is that the Seven, Clarrise, the Stolls, Reyna, and Will Solace survive, and the Roman attack on Camp Half-Blood is thwarted by information coming to light. Also, each camper at both camps can transfer between camps regularly with no complications. Most choose to alternate camps with the seasons.**

Dionysus POV

When the horde of Egyptians walked onto his front porch, Dionysus knew there would be trouble. He recognized the tall, black one as a host of a god, and he saw that they all were blood of the pharaohs.

Chiron POV

Chiron felt like he had just been hit by a sledgehammer. Every instinct screamed '_ATTACK_'. But, from thousands of years of dealing with heroes, Chiron could barely, just barely restrain himself. When they walked into the Big House, Chiron summoned all of the cabin heads and the rest of the seven demigods for a war council, if necessary and an introduction to the Egyptians. After everyone was settled, Chiron said, "Introductions and pleasantries. Get them over with."

"Percy Jackson"

"Annabeth Chase"

"Carter Kane" Annabeth emitted a small gasp at this

"Jason Grace"

"Walt Stone" A change, a chill seemed to come over Walt, as if….

"Anubis"

"Sadie Kane"

"Connor Stoll"

"Hazel Levesque"

"Piper McLean"

**(A/N; I don't know the last names of any of the initiates. If anyone knows them, please put it in a review)**

"Felix"

"Cleo"

"Katie Gardner"

"Leo Valdez"

"Chiron"

"Dionysus"

"Lou Ellen"

"Amos Kane"

"Zia Rashid"

"Julian"

"Frank Zhang"

''Jaz"

"Will Solace"

"Reyna"

"Travis Stoll"

"Butch"

"Pollux"

"Clovis"

**( A/N: The names of the other counselors aren't mentioned)**

Annabeth POV

Annabeth had only seen Chiron this agitated once: When Jason had come to camp. She hoped it wasn't that bad, but Chiron wouldn't summon all the head counselors for new campers. Besides, there were too many, and one was an adult. After the introductions, Seaweed Brain broke the silence. " Now that we know your names, where are you from?"

The African-American boy with curly hair replied. What was his name?... Carter Kane? "We are magicians in the House of Life. We are the unit stationed here in New York. I could say the same to you. Where are we, and who are you?"

"This is Camp Half-Blood, a training haven for demigods."

The blonde with red streaks answered with questions, " Who are demigods, and is that chubby man a god?" Annabeth thought she heard a British accent.

At that moment, a blinding flash of light appeared. They had all been transported to an awesome penthouse. Annabeth counted 15 bedrooms, each with two names on the doors. On an ornately carved table in the center of the room, there was a note and a stack of books.

_Dear Demigods and Magicians,_

Annabeth looked around and noticed a change in the boy called Walt and the absence of Dionysus.

_Your two groups have finally met. We knew this day was coming, and we prepared for it. You guys will stay in this penthouse, fully stocked with all your personal living items, until you have finished reading these books. They tell about your magical lives and will help you understand each other in a matter of days. When you have finished the books, you will be returned to Camp Half-Blood and Brooklyn House._

_You may ask: How did these books come out? Who published and bought them? Does anyone know the truth about us? The culprit is the senior scribe of Camp Half-Blood, Rick Riordan. He also intercepted your recordings, Carter and Sadie. He passed off your stories as fiction, and those foolish mortals believed it. _

_Sincerely,_

_The Greek and Egyptian Gods_

Third person POV

"There are Greek gods!?"

"There are Egyptian gods!"

Amos then spoke. He said, "Only the highest ranking of our officials know of your existence, Greeks. Your precious privacy is safe." These words seemed odd to some, but Chiron nodded.

It was Sadie who spoke next. "There are some really embarrassing things in those recordings. I think we should get our books out of the way first." Carter nodded and picked up the first book. It was labeled

_**The Red Pyramid **_

"Let's take turns reading, one chapter each."

The others nodded. They all pulled themselves out of their various states of shock and sat.

Carter began. "It's in my POV. The first chapter is called ' A Death at the Needle'"

**Like it? Hate it? Too short? Please, review!**__


	3. A Death at the Needle

**Disclaimer: I do not own the characters or books. Rick Riordan does.**

**Thanks for all the positive reviews! Hope you like this chapter.**

Percy POV

"A Death at the Needle," Carter read."

**We only have a few hours, so listen carefully.**

"If Rick released this to the general public, they don't have to listen carefully. _They're _not blood of the pharaohs," Carter said, before turning red when he realized he was talking to himself. The room burst into laughter._  
_

**If you're hearing this story, you're already in danger. Sadie and I might be your only chance. **

**Go to the school. Find the locker.**

"Wow," Percy said, "You're sure putting them under a lot of pressure."

"I'm sure you did the same thing."

Percy started to open his mouth to argue, and then realized he _had_ done the same thing. He looked submissively at Carter.

Carter continued.

**I won't tell you which school or which locker, because if you're the right person, you'll find it. The combination is 13/32/33. By the time you finish listening, you'll know what those numbers mean. Just remember the story we're about to tell you isn't complete yet. How it ends will depend on you.**

**The most important thing: when you open the package and find what's inside, **_**don't**_**keep it longer than a week. Sure, it'll be tempting. I mean, it will grant you almost unlimited power. But if you possess it too long, it will consume you. Learn its secrets quickly and pass it on. Hide it for the next person, the way Sadie and I did for you. Then be prepared for your life the get very interesting.**

** "**Interesting!?", all of the present chorused, excluding Carter.

"What!," Carter retorted, "I didn't want to scare them off!"

The initiates nodded in agreement.

**Okay, Sadie is telling me to stop stalling and get on with the story. Fine. I guess it started in London, the night our dad blew up the British Museum.**

"Your dad did what!," Annabeth screamed.

"It was an accident," Carter answered glumly, looking down and twiddling his thumbs.

Annabeth nodded, probably thinking of how many places _she _had trashed with Percy.\

**My name is Carter Kane. I'm fourteen and my home is a suitcase.**

** You think I'm kidding? Since I was eight years old, my dad and I have traveled the world. I was born in L.A, but my dad's an archaeologist, so his work takes him all over. Mostly we go to Egypt, since that's his specialty. Go into a bookstore, find a book about Egypt, and there's a pretty good chance it was written by Dr. Julius Kane.**

** "**Your dad is Julius Kane!?," Annabeth screamed in excitement.

"Yeah," Carter replied matter-of-factly.

**You want to know how the Egyptians pulled the brains out of mummies, or built the pyramids, or cursed King Tut's tomb?**

** "**We already know all that stuff," Walt said with a grimace. "I'm actually one of his last living descendants."

"So that's what you mean when you say blood of the pharaohs?," Percy questioned.

"Yup," all the initiates replied, popping the 'p'

**My dad is your man. Of course, there are other reasons my dad moved around so much, but I didn't know his secret back then.**

** I didn't go to school. My dad homeschooled me, if you can call it "home"****schooling when you don't have a home. He sort of taught me whatever he thought was important, so I learned a lot about Egypt and basketball stats and my dad's favorite musicians. I read a lot too-Pretty much everything I could get my hands on, from dad's history books to fantasy novels-because i spent a lot of time sitting around in hotels and airports and dig sites in foreign countries where I didn't know anybody. My dad was always telling me to put the book down and play some ball.**

"So why didn't you?," Clarisse screamed

'It'll explain in the book," Carter replied

**You ever try to start a game of pickup basketball in Aswan, Egypt? It's not easy.**

** "**Why not?," Percy said, thinking that this kid was sounding lamer by the minute.

"Most people didn't speak English, and if they did they didn't play basketball," Carter replied

**Anyway, my dad trained me early to keep all my possessions in a single suitcase that fits in an airplane's overhead compartment. My dad packed the same way, except ****he was allowed an extra workbag for his archaeology tools. ****Rule number one: I was not allowed to look in his workbag. That's a rule I never broke until the day of the explosion.**

"Rule keeper!," the Stolls, Sadie, and Percy yelled

**In happened on Christmas Eve. We were in London for visitation day with my sister, Sadie.**

"Vistitation Day?"

"The book explains it."

**See, Dad's only allowed two days a year with her—one in the winter, one in the summer—because our grandparents hate him.**

"See?," Carter answered

"Why do they hate your dad?," Percy asked

"They blame him for our mom's death," Sadie replied

**After our mom died, her parents (our grandparents) had this big court battle with Dad. After six lawyers, two fistfights, and a near fatal attack with a spatula**

"A near fatal attack with a spatula?," the Greeks initiates, Walt and Zia asked.

"Don't ask

**(don't ask),**

**they won the right to keep Sadie with them in England. She was only six, two years younger than me, and they couldn't keep us both—at least that was their excuse for not taking me. So Sadie was raised as a British schoolkid and I traveled around with my dad. We only saw Sadie twice a year, which was fine with me.**

**[Shut up, Sadie. Yes—I'm getting to that part.]**

**So anyway, my dad and I had just flown into Heathrow after a couple of delays. It was a drizzly, cold afternoon.**

"Why even bother to tell them its raining? It's always that way in London," Sadie informed.

**The whole taxi ride into the city, my dad seemed kind of nervous.**

**Now, my dad is a big guy. You wouldn't think anything could make him nervous. He has dark brown skin like mine, piercing brown eyes, a bald head, and a goatee, so he looks like a buff evil scientist. That afternoon he wore his cashmere winter coat and his best brown suit, the one he used for public lectures. **

"I've been to a couple of his lectures," Annabeth commented, " So you're the kid that's always in the front row with the luggage?"

"Yeah"

**Usually he exudes so much confidence that he dominates any room he walks into,****but sometimes—like that afternoon—I saw another side to him that I didn't really understand. He kept looking over his shoulder like we were being hunted.**

"**Dad?" I said as we were getting off the A-40. "What's wrong?"**

"**No sign of them," he muttered. Then he must've realized he'd spoken aloud, because he looked at me kind of startled. "Nothing, Carter. Everything's fine."**

**Which bothered me because my dad's a terrible liar.**

" So are you," all the Egyptians, with the exception of Amos chorused.

**I always knew when he was hiding something, but I also knew that no amount of pestering will get the truth out of him.**

**He was probably trying to protect me, though from what I didn't know. Sometimes I wondered if he had some dark secret in his past, some old enemy following him, maybe;** **but the idea seemed ridiculous. Dad was just an archaeologist.**

" No he wasn't," the Greeks guessed, stating the obvious

**The other thing that troubled me: Dad was clutching his workbag. Usually when he does that, it means we're in danger. Like that time gunmen stormed our hotel in Cairo. I heard shots coming from the lobby and ran downstairs to check on my dad. By the time I got there, he was just calmly zipping up his workbag while three unconscious gunmen hung by their feet from the chandelier, their robes falling over their heads so you could see their boxer shorts.**

Laughter rippled through the room and Percy thought he saw Connor asking Sadie something. He gave her a pen and paper and she wrote down something. A phone number?

**Dad claimed not to have witnessed anything, and in the end the police blamed a freak chandelier malfunction.**

**Another time, we got caught in a riot in Paris. My dad found the nearest parked car, pushed me into the backseat, and told me to stay down. I pressed myself against the floorboards and kept my eyes shut tight. I could hear Dad in the driver's seat, rummaging in his bag, mumbling something to himself while the mob yelled and destroyed things outside. A few minutes later he told me it was safe to get up. Every other car on the block had been overturned and set on fire. Our car had been freshly washed and polished, and several twenty-euro notes had been tucked under the windshield wipers.**

Two people spoke at that- Zia and Percy

"And still you suspected nothing?

" Your dad is awesome!"

**Anyway, I'd come to respect the bag. It was our good luck charm. But when my dad kept it close, it meant we were going to need good luck.**

**We drove through the city center, heading east toward my grandparents' flat. We passed the golden gates of Buckingham Palace, the big stone column in Trafalgar Square. London is a pretty cool place,**

Sadie smiled at this.

** but after you've been traveling for so long, all cities start to blend together. Other kids I meet sometimes say, "Wow, you're so lucky you get to travel so much." But it's not like we spend our time sightseeing or have a lot money to travel in style. We've stayed in some pretty rough places, and we hardly ever stay anywhere longer than a few days. Most of the time it feels like we're fugitives rather than tourists.**

**I mean, you wouldn't think my dad's work was dangerous.**

**He does lectures on topics like "Can Egyptian Magic Really Kill You?"**

"YES!," responded a chorus of voices

** and "Favorite Punishments in the Egyptian Underworld" and other stuff most people wouldn't care about.**

"Except magicians," Zia muttered

**But like I said, there's that other side to him. He's always very cautious, checking every hotel room before he lets me walk into it. He'll dart into a museum to see some artifacts, take a few notes, and rush out again like he's afraid to be caught on the security cameras.**

** "**No. He was afraid to get caught by me and Desjardins," Zia responded with a smirk

**One time when I was younger, we raced across the Charles de Gaulle airport to catch a last-minute flight, and Dad didn't relax until the plane was off the ground, I asked him point blank what he was running from, and he looked at me like I'd just pulled the pin out of a grenade. For a second I was scared he might actually tell me the truth.**

**Then he said, "Carter, it's nothing." As if "nothing" were the most terrible thing in the world.**

**After that, I decided maybe it was better not to ask questions.**

**My grandparents, the Fausts, live in a housing development near Canary Wharf, right on the banks of the River Thames. The taxi let us off at the curb, and my dad asked the driver to wait.**

**We were halfway up the walk when Dad froze. He turned and looked behind us.**

"**What?" I asked.**

**Then I saw the man in the trench coat. He was across the street, leaning against a big dead tree, he was barrel shaped, with skin the color of roasted coffee. His coat and black pinstriped suit looked expensive. He had long braided hair and wore a black fedora pulled down low over his dark round glasses.**

"Amos," said Carter

"Me!"

**He reminded me of a jazz musician,**

"Well, he is one," Sadie said

** the kind my dad would always drag me to see in concert. Even though I couldn't see his eyes, I got the impression he was watching us. He might've been an old friend or colleague of Dad's.**

**No matter where we went, Dad was always running into people he knew. But it did seem strange that the guy was waiting here, outside my grandparents'. And he didn't look happy.**

"**Carter," my dad said, "go on ahead."**

"**But—"**

"**Get your sister. I'll meet you back at the taxi."**

**He crossed the street toward the man in the trench coat, which left me with two choices: follow my dad and see what was going on, or do what I was told.**

**I decided on the slightly less dangerous path.**

"Slightly _less_ dangerous?," the Stolls asked, looking at Sadie with a new respect.

** I went to retrieve my sister.**

**Before I could even knock, Sadie opened the door.**

"**Late as usual," she said.**

**She was holding her cat, Muffin,**

"You called the goddess of cats Muffin?," Felix asked, surrounded by penguins

Sadie blushed at this

**who'd been a "going away" gift from Dad six years before. Muffin never seemed to get older or bigger. She had fuzzy yellow-and-black fur like a miniature leopard, alert yellow eyes, and pointy ears that were too tall for her head. A silver Egyptian pendant dangled from her collar. She didn't look anything like a muffin, but Sadie had been little when she named her, so I guess you have to cut her some slack.**

Sadie swatted Carter at this.

**Sadie hadn't changed much either since last summer.**

**[As I'm recording this, she's standing next to me, glaring, so I'd better be careful**

**how I describe her.]**

**You would never guess she's my sister. First of all, she'd been living in England so long, she has a British accent. Second, she takes after our mom, who was white, so Sadie's skin is much lighter than me. She has straight caramel-colored hair, not exactly blond but not brown, which she usually dyes with streaks of bright colors. That day it had red streaks down the left side. Her eyes are blue. I'm serious. **_**Blue**_** eyes, just like our mom's. She's only twelve, but she's exactly as tall as me, which is really annoying.**

**She was chewing gum as usual, dressed for her day out with Dad in battered jeans, a leather jacket, and combat boots, like she was going to a concert and was hoping to stomp on some people.**

"I had actually just come back from one," Sadie said

** She had headphones dangling around her neck in case we bored her.**

**[Okay, she didn't hit me, so I guess I did an okay job of describing her.]**

"No. I just got bored and put my headphones in," Sadie corrected

"**Our plane was late," I told her.**

**She popped a bubble, rubbed Muffin's head, and tossed the cat inside. "Gran, going out!"**

**From somewhere in the house, Grandma Faust said something I couldn't make out,**

**probably "Don't let them in!"**

"You guessed right," Sadie commented

**Sadie closed the door and regarded me as if I were a dead mouse her cat had just dragged in.**

** "**Actually, Muffin had better taste than that. I think," Sadie began, but Carter cut her off

"**So, here you are again."**

"**Yep."**

"**Come on, then." She sighed. "Let's get on with it."**

**That's the way she was. No "Hi, how you been the last six months? So glad to see you!" or anything. But that was okay with me.**

**When you only see each other twice a year, it's like you're distant cousins rather than siblings. We had absolutely nothing in common except our parents.** **  
**

**We trudged down the steps. I was thinking how she smelled like a combination of old people's house and bubble gum when she stopped so abruptly, I ran into her.**

Everyone laughed except for Carter and Sadie.

"**Who's that?" she asked.****I'd almost forgotten about the dude in the trench coat. He and my dad were s****tanding across the street next to the big tree, having what looked like a serious argument. Dad's back was turned so I couldn't see his face, but he gestured with his hands like he does when he's agitated.**

"**Dunno," I said. "He was there when we pulled up."**

"**He looks familiar." Sadie frowned like she was trying to remember. "Come on."**

"**Dad wants us to wait in the cab," I said, even though I knew it was no use. Sadie was already in the move.**

**Instead of going straight across the street, she dashed up the sidewalk for half a block, ducking behind cars, then crossed to the opposite side and crouched under a low stone wall. She started sneaking toward our dad. I didn't have much choice but to follow her example, even though it made me feel kind of stupid.**

"**Six years in England," I muttered, "and she thinks she's James Bond."**

"It's true," Carter said, and he was promptly swatted

**Sadie swatted me without looking back and kept creeping forward.**

** "**Creepy.**"**

**A couple more steps and we were right behind the big dead tree. I could hear my dad on the other side, saying, "—have to, Amos. You know it's the right thing."**

"**No," said the other man, who must've been Amos. His voice was deep and even—very insistent. His accent was American. "If **_**I**_** don't stop you, Julius, **_**they**_**will. The Per Ankh is shadowing you."**

** "**Per _what_?" Percy asked

**Sadie turned to me and mouth the words "Per **_**what**_**?"**

Percy and Sadie reddened.

**I shook my head, just as mystified.**

"**Let's get out of here," I whispered, because I figured we'd be spotted any minute and get in serious trouble. Sadie, of course, ignored me.**

"**They don't know my plan," my father was saying. "By the time they figure it out—"**

"**And the children?" Amos asked. The hairs stood up on the back of my neck. "What about them?"**

"**I've made arrangements to protect them," my dad said. "Besides, if I don't do this, we're all in danger. Now, back off."**

"**I can't, Julius."**

"**Then it's a duel you want?" Dad's tone turned deadly serious. "You never could beat me, Amos."**

**I hadn't seen my dad get violent since the Great Spatula Incident,**

** "**Seriously, what happened?" Annabeth asked, Percy smiled. Being the daughter of the wisdom goddess, Wise Girl hated not knowing things.

" Just envision a spatula, flying projectiles, and 3 people in stretchers and you'll get the general idea," Carter answered with a shudder.

**and I wasn't anxious to see a repeat of **_**that**_**, ****but the two men seemed to be edging toward a fight.**

**Before I could react, Sadie popped up and shouted, "Dad!"**

"No," the Stolls and Leo exclaimed, " don't reveal yourselves!"

**He looked surprised when she tackled-hugged him, but not nearly as surprised as the other guy, Amos. He backed up so quickly, he tripped over his own trench coat.**

Amos blushed

**He'd taken off his glasses. I couldn't help thinking that Sadie was right. He did look familiar—like a very distant memory.**

"**I—I must be going," he said. he straightened his fedora and lumbered down the road.**

**Our dad watched him go. He kept one arm protectively around Sadie**

**and one hand inside the workbag slung over his shoulder. Finally, when Amos disappeared around the corner, Dad relaxed. He took his hand out of the bag and smiled at Sadie. "Hello, sweetheart."**

**Sadie pushed away from him and crossed her arms. "Oh, now it's **_**sweetheart**_**, is it?**

**You're late. Visitation Day's nearly over! And what was that about? Who's Amos, and what's the Per Ankh?"**

**Dad stiffened. He glanced at me like he was wondering how much we'd overheard.**

Percy slumped. He hated when adults didn't trust him with information.

"**It's nothing," he said, trying to sound upbeat. "I have a wonderful evening planned. Who'd like a private tour of the British Museum?"**

**Sadie slumped in the back of the taxi between Dad and me.**

"**I can't believe it," she grumbled. "One evening together, and you want to do research."**

**Dad tried for a smile. "Sweetheart, it'll be fun. The curator of the Egyptian collection personally invited—"**

"**Right, big surprise." Sadie blew a strand of red-streaked hair out of her face. "Christmas Eve, and we're going to see some moldy old relics from Egypt. Do you ever think about **_**anything**_** else?"**

**Dad didn't get mad. He never gets mad at Sadie. He just stared out of the window at the darkening sky and the rain.**

"**Yes," he said quietly. "I do."**

**Whenever Dad got quiet like that and stared off into nowhere, I knew he was thinking about our mom. The last few months, it had been happening a lot. I'd walk into our hotel room and find him with his cell phone in his hands, Mom's picture smiling up at him from the screen—her hair tucked under a headscarf, her blue eyes startlingly bright against the desert backdrop.**

Carter and Sadie's expressions were filled with longing

**Or we'd be at some dig site. I'd seen Dad staring at the horizon, and I'd know he was remembering how he's met her—two young scientists in the Valley of the Kings, on a dig to discover a lost tomb.**

"Actually, they weren't looking for a tomb. It was more of a form of grave robbing. The First Nome was low on weapons, so they began taking them from tombs untouched by regular mortals," Amos answered

** Dad was an Egyptologist. Mom was an anthropologist looking for ancient DNA. He'd told me the story a thousand times.**

**Our taxi snaked its way along the banks of the Thames. Just past Waterloo Bridge, my dad tensed.**

"**Driver," he said. "Stop here a moment."**

**The cabbie pulled over on the Victoria Embankment.**

"**What is it, Dad?" I asked.**

**He got out of the cab like he hadn't heard me. when Sadie and I joined him on the sidewalk, he was staring up at Cleopatra's Needle.**

"Cleopatra's Needle?"

"It will explain."

**In case you've never seen it: ****the Needle is an obelisk, not a needle, and it doesn't have anything to do with Cleopatra. I guess the British just thought the name sounded cool when they brought it to London. It's about seventy feet tall, which would've been really impressive back in Ancient Egypt, but on the Thames, with all the tall buildings around, it looks small and sad. You could drive right by it and not even realize you'd just passed something that was a thousand years older than the city of London.**

"**God."**

"Gods," everyone corrected.

**Sadie walked around in a frustrated circle. "Do we have to stop for **_**every**_** monument?"**

**My dad stared at the top of the obelisk. "I had to see it again," he murmured. "Where it happened..."**

**A freezing wind blew off the river. I wanted to get back in the cab, but my dad was really starting to worry me. I'd never seen him so distracted.**

"**What, Dad?" I asked. "What happened here?"**

"**The last place I saw her."**

**Sadie stopped pacing. She scowled at me uncertainly, then back at Dad. "Hang on. Do you mean Mum?"**

**Dad brushed Sadie's hair behind her ear, and she was so surprised, she didn't even push him away.**

"I wouldn't push him away, Carter, You assume too much," Sadie answered.

**I felt like the rain had frozen me solid. Mom's death had always been a forbidden subject. I knew she'd died in an accident in London. I knew my grandparents blamed my dad.**

**But no one would ever tell us the details. I'd given up asking my dad, partly because it made him so sad, partly because it made him so sad, partly because he absolutely refused to tell me anything. "When you're older" was all he would say, which was the most frustrating response ever.**

"**You're telling us she died here," I said. "At Cleopatra's Needle? What happened?"**

**He lowered his head.**

"**Dad!" Sadie protested. "I go past this **_**every**_** day, and you mean to say—all this time—and I didn't even **_**know**_**?"**

"I was mad! I never gave the place a second thought," Sadie explained, eyeing askance glances aimed at her

"**Do you still have your cat?" Dad asked her, which seemed like a really stupid question.**

"**Of course I've still got the cat!" she said. "What does that have to do with anything?"**

"Everything," Carter answered

"**And your amulet?"**

**Sadie's hand went to her neck. When we were little, right before Sadie went to live with our grandparents, Dad had given us both Egyptian amulets. Mine was an Eye of Horus, which was a popular protection symbol in Ancient Egypt.**

**In fact my dad says the modern pharmacist's symbol, Rx, is a simplified version of the Eye of Horus, because medicine is supposed to protect you.**

**Anyway, I always wore my amulet under my shirt, but I figured Sadie would've lost hers or thrown it away.**

"Why would I do that? It's the last gift I had left from dad," Sadie said, glaring at Carter.

**To my surprise, she nodded. "'Course I have it, Dad, but don't change the subject. Gran's always going on about how you caused Mum's death. That's not true, is it?"**

Third person POV

**We waited. For once, Sadie and I wanted exactly the same thing—the truth.**

"The world has met it's end!," Zia cried

"**The night your mother died," my father started, "here at the Needle—"**

**A sudden flash illuminated the embankment. I turned, half blind, and just for a moment I glimpsed two figures: a tall pale man with a forked beard and wearing cream-colored robes,**

** "**Desjardins," Carter, Zia and Sadie chorused

** and a coppery-skinned girl**

" You were foolish to try to run from me," Zia joked with a smirk.

**in dark blue robes and a headscarf—the kind of clothes I'd seen hundred of times in Egypt. They were just standing there side by side, not twenty feet away, watching us. Then the light faded. The figures melted into a fuzzy afterimage. When my eyes readjusted to the darkness, they were gone.**

"**Um..." Sadie said nervously. "Did you just see that?"**

"**Get in the cab," my dad said, pushing us toward the curb. "We're out of time."**

**From that point on, Dad clammed up.**

"**This isn't the place to talk," he said, glancing behind us. He'd promised the cabbie an extra ten pounds if he got us to the museum in under five minutes, and the cabbie was doing his best.**

"**Dad," I tried, "those people at the river—"**

"**And that other bloke, Amos," Sadie said. "Are they Egyptian police or something?"**

Amos and Zia smirked

"**Look, both of you," Dad said, "I'm going to need your help tonight. I know it's hard, but you have to be patient. I'll explain everything, I promise, after we get to the museum. I'm going to make everything right again."**

"**What do you mean?" Sadie insisted. "Make **_**what**_** right?"**

**Dad's expression was more than sad. It was almost guilty. With a chill, I thought about what Sadie had said: about our grandparents blaming him for Mom's death.**

**That **_**couldn't**_** be what he was talking about, could it?**

"Your dad isn't like that," Amos replied

**The cabbie swerved onto Great Russell Street and screeched to a halt in front of the museum's main gates.**

"**Just follow my lead," Dad told us. "When we meet the curator, act normal."**

**I was thinking that Sadie never acted **_**normal**_**, but I decided not to say anything.**

After about 10 minutes, Zia had to cast a hah-ri spell and use the Seven Ribbons of Hathor.

**We climbed out of the cab. I got our luggage while Dad paid the driver with a big wad of cash. Then he did something strange. He threw a handful of small objects into the backseat—they looked like stones, but it was too dark for me to be sure. "Keep driving," he told the cabbie. "Take us to Chelsea."**

" That sure threw us off your trail for a while," Zia said

**That made no sense since we were already out of the cab, but the driver sped off. I glanced at Dad, then back at the cab, and before it turned the corner and disappeared in the dark, I caught a weird glimpse of three passengers in the backseat: a man and two kids.**

**I blinked. There was no way the cab could've picked up another fare so fast. "Dad—"**

"**London cabs don't stay empty very long," he said matter-of-factly.**

Sadie nodded. "I've seen street fights over who get a cab."

"**Come along, kids."**

**He marched off through the wrought iron gates. For a second, Sadie and I hesitated.**

"**Carter, **_**what**_** is going on?"**

**I shook my head. "I'm not sure I want to know."**

"**Well, stay out here in the cold if you want, but **_**I'm**_** not leaving without an explanation." She turned and marched after our dad.**

**Looking back on it, I should've run. I should've dragged Sadie out of there and gotten as far away as possible.**

**Instead I followed her through the gates.**

Carter passed the book to Zia. "The chapter ends there."

**Like it? Hate it? Want the Greeks to respond more? Please, review!**

**P.S. I could throw in a lemon in a couple chapters if you guys want.**


	4. An Explosion for Christmas

**Thanks for all of the positive reviews! Blue cookies for everyone! As for the reviewer who was in favor of a lemon, give me a pairing and a reason. I'm sorry I haven't updated, but I've been busy! Here is the long awaited chapter update. For any manga fans, I am also doing a beta for Team Z by murderdeath21 because English is a second language for him and he spells the character names in Japanese spellings, in addition to grammar mistakes. But don't worry! English is my second language too!**

**Me: Yes! Free at last! Free at last! Rick Riordan gave me the rights!**

**Rick Riordan and his lawyer: *Evil eye***

**Me: Fine. None of the material included belongs to me except for the plot. That honor goes to Uncle Rick.**

**Demigods and Magicians Meet at Last Chapter 4: Reading the Red Pyramid Chapter 2**

Third person POV

Zia began to read.

" **An Explosion for Christmas**"

Leo, the Stolls, and Clarrise perked up at this.

" **I'd been to the British Museum before. In fact, I've been in more museums than I like to admit-it makes me sound like a total geek.**"

"You _are _a total geek," Sadie replied, which won a murderous glare from Annabeth.

**[ That's Sadie in the background, yelling that I **_**am**_** a total geek. Thanks, Sis.]**

"Creepy."

**Anyway, the museum was closed and completely dark, but the curator and two security guards were waiting for us on the front steps.**

**He shook my dad's hand like he was meeting a rock star. **"**Your last paper on Imhotep—brilliant! I don't know how you translated those spells!"**

"Of course you don't, you're a mortal and he's a magician!"Carter and Sadie exclaimed at the same time.

"Im-ho-who?" all the demigods except for Annabeth questioned.

"**Im-ho-who?" Sadie muttered to me.**

The demigods and Sadie assumed defensive looks. "Why do they have to repeat _my_ stupidity!"

"**Imhotep," I said. "High priest, architect. Some say he was a magician. Designed the first step pyramid. You know."**

"**Don't know," Sadie said. "Don't care.**

"Sadie," Zia groaned. "You need to care about _everything_ that has to do with Ancient Egypt. _Everything_."

**But thanks."**

**Dad expressed his gratitude to the curator for hosting us on a holiday. Then he put his hand on my shoulder. "Dr. Martin, I'd like you to meet Carter and Sadie."**

"**Ah! Your son, obviously, and—" The curator looked hesitantly at Sadie. "And this young lady?"**

"**My daughter," Dad said.**

**Dr. Martin's stare went temporarily blank.**

Carter and Sadie sighed.

**Doesn't matter how open-minded or polite people think they are, there's always that moment of confusion that flashes across their faces when they realize Sadie is part of our family. I hate it,**

"True," Sadie said.

**but over the years I've come to expect it.**

"And true," Carter said.

**The curator regained his smile. "Yes, yes, of course. Right this way, Dr. Kane. We're very honored!"**

**The security guards looked the doors behind us. They took our luggage, then one of them reached for Dad's workbag.**

"**Ah, no," Dad said with a tight smile. "I'll keep this one."**

" I miss the old days when the Mist didn't exist," Chiron sighed, " We actually had to put effort into fooling mortals."

**The guards stayed in the foyer as we followed the curator into the Great Court. It was ominous at night. Dim light from the glass-domed ceiling cast crosshatched shadows across the walls like a giant spiderweb.**

Annabeth shivered. Every Egyptian regarded her strangely.

"Arachnids, Arachne," Annabeth replied. All of the Egyptians, minus Sadie nodded.

**Our footsteps clicked on the white marble floor.**

"**So," Dad said, "the stone."**

"**Yes!" the curator said. "Though I can't imagine what new information you could glean from it. It's been studied to death—our most famous artifact, of course."**

"**Of course," Dad said. "But you may be surprised."**

"**What's he on about now?" Sadie whispered to me.**

**I didn't answer. I had a sneaking suspicion what stone they were talking about, but I couldn't figure out why Dad would drag us out on Christmas Eve to see it.**

Everyone except for Carter, Sadie, Amos, and Annabeth looked confused.

**I wondered what he'd been about to tell us at Cleopatra's Needle—something about our mother and the night she died. And why did he keep glancing around as if he expected those strange people we'd seen at the Needle to pop up again? We were locked in a museum surrounded by guards and high-tech security. Nobody could bother us in here—**

"Wrong." Zia smirked.

"I _know_!"

**I hoped.**

"See?"

**We turned left into the Egyptian wing. The walls were lined with massive statues of the pharaohs and gods, but my dad bypassed them all and went straight for the main attraction in the middle of the room.**

"**Beautiful," my father murmured. "And it's not a replica?"**

"**No, no," the curator promised. "We don't always keep the actual stone on display, but for you—this is quite real."**

**We were staring at a slab of dark gray rock about three feet tall and two feet wide. It sat on a pedestal, encased in a glass box. The flat surface of the stone was chiseled with three distinct bands of writing. The top part was Ancient Egyptian picture writing: hieroglyphics. The middle section...**

"Demotic," Amos said immediately.

**I had to rack my brain to remember what my dad called it: **_**Demotic**_**, a kind of writing from the period when the Greeks controlled Egypt and a lot of Greek words got mixed into Egyptian. The last lines were in Greek.**

"Does that mean we could read it too?" Percy asked. Chiron nodded and Annabeth gave him a kiss that the Athena cabin had jokingly dubbed 'The kiss of stupidity'

"**The Rosetta Stone," I said.**

"Isn't that a language program?" Percy asked. The Egyptians laughed, and Percy, leaning in for his kiss, was slapped from behind with lightning speed.

"**Isn't that a computer program?" Sadie asked.**

**I wanted to tell her how stupid she was,**

"Hey!" Sadie yelled. She took out her staff and wand, but Carter held out his hand and muttered a command, causing her staff to come to his hands.

**but the curator cut me off with a nervous laugh. "Young lady, the Rosetta Stone was the key to deciphering hieroglyphics! It was discovered by Napoleon's army in 1799 and—"**

"**Oh, right," Sadie said. "I remember now."**

**I knew she was just saying that to shut him up, ****but my dad wouldn't let it go.**

"Of course he wouldn't!" **(A/N: Can you guess who said that?)**

"**Sadie," he said, "until this stone was discovered, regular mortals...**

** "**Way to blow your cover," Chiron muttered

** er, I mean, no one had been able to read hieroglyphics for centuries. The written language of Egypt had been completely forgotten. Then a Frenchman named Champollion**

"Desjardins' great-grandfather," Zia informed

"Who's Desjardins?" Annabeth asked

"It will explain later."

** took up the work and cracked the code of hieroglyphics."**

**Sadie chewed her gum, unimpressed. "What's it say, then?"**

**Dad shrugged. "Nothing important. It's basically a thank-you letter from some priests to King Ptolemy V. When it was first craved, the stone was no big deal. But over the centuries... over the centuries it has become a powerful symbol. Perhaps the most important connection between Ancient Egypt and the modern world. I was a fool not to realize its potential sooner."**

"What is he talking about?" the Greeks asked in unison.

**He'd lost me, and apparently the curator too.**

"**Dr. Kane?" he asked. "Are you quite all right?"**

**Dad breathed deeply. "My apologies, Dr. Martin. I was just... thinking aloud. If I could have the glass removed? And if you could bring me the papers I asked for from your archives."**

**Dr. Martin nodded. He pressed a code into a small remote control, and the front of the glass box clicked open.**

"**It will take a few minutes to retrieve the notes," Dr. Martin said. "For anyone else, I would hesitate to grant unguarded access to the stone, as you've requested. I trust you'll be careful."**

**He glanced at us kids like we were troublemakers.**

"I wouldn't call _you_ a troublemaker, but Sadie, on the other hand..." Zia trailed off.

"Hey!"

"You _know_ it's true."

"...Good point."

"**We'll be careful," Dad promised.**

**As soon as Dr. Martin's steps receded, Dad turned to us with a frantic look in his eyes. "Children, this is very important. You have to stay out of this room."**

**He slipped his workbag off his shoulder and unzipped it just enough to pull out a bike chain and padlock. "Follow Dr. Martin. You'll find his office at the end of the Great Court on the left. There's only one entrance. Once he's inside, wrap this around the door handles and lock it tight. We need to delay him."**

"**You want us to lock him in?" Sadie asked, suddenly interested. "Brilliant!"**

Connor and Travis leaned forward in excitement, grinning wickedly.

"**Dad," I said, "what's going on?"**

"**We don't have time for explanations," he said. "This will be our only chance. They're coming."**

"**Who's coming?" Sadie asked.**

** "**Me and Desjardins" Zia answered.

**He took Sadie by the shoulders. "Sweetheart, I love you. And I'm sorry... I'm sorry for many things, but there's no time now. If this works, I promise I'll make everything better for all of us. Carter, you're my brave man. You have to trust me. Remember, lock up Dr. Martin. Then stay out of this room!"**

**Chaining the curator's door was easy.**

"Of course it was. You had me to help."

**But as soon as we'd finished, we looked back the way we'd come and saw blue light streaming from the Egyptian gallery, as if our dad had installed a giant glowing aquarium.**

**Sadie locked eyes with me. "Honestly, do you have **_**any**_** idea what he's up to?"**

"**None," I said. "But he's been acting strange lately. Thinking a lot about Mom. He keeps her picture..."**

**I didn't want to say more. Fortunately Sadie nodded like she understood.**

"**What's in his workbag?" she asked.**

"**I don't know. He told me never to look."**

**Sadie raised an eyebrow. "And you never did? God, that is so like you Carter. You're hopeless."**

"There was also the fact that he _always_ had his workbag near him, so even if I tried, he would've caught me," Carter retorted.

**I wanted to defend myself, but just then a tremor shook the floor.**

**Startled, Sadie grabbed my arm. "He told us to stay put. I suppose you're going to follow that order too?"**

**Actually, that order was sounding pretty good to me,**

"It did!" Carter said defensively as an answer to a concentrated glare collaboration.

**but Sadie sprinted down the hall, and after a moment's hesitation, I ran after her.**

**When we reached the entrance of the Egyptian gallery, we stopped dead in our tracks. Our dad stood in front of the Rosetta Stone with his back to us. A blue circle glowed on the floor around him, as if someone had switched on hidden neon tubes in the floor.**

**My dad had thrown off his overcoat. His workbag lay open at his feet, revealing a wooden box about two feet long, painted with Egyptian images.**

"**What's he holding?" Sadie whispered to me. "Is that a boomerang?"**

"A _boomerang_?" Zia and Amos exclaimed. "That's your first thought of a wand? A _boomerang_?"

"Dude," Carter said, annoyed. "Shut up. It's true."

**Sure enough, when Dad raised his hand, he was brandishing a curved white stick. It did look like a boomerang. But instead of throwing the stick,**

" That wouldn't do any good," Amos replied.

"Carter and Sadie grinned wickedly. "Show them," Carter said, "Summon some fruit bats."

At this, even Amos and Zia were confused. Sadie summoned the bats by speaking Divine Words. Carter brandished his wand and threw it at them. The wand glowed white and took out 9 of the bats.

"Impressive," the magicians said.

**he touched it to the Rosetta Stone. Sadie caught her breath. Dad was **_**writing**_** on the stone. Wherever the boomerang made contact, glowing blue lines appeared on the granite. Hieroglyphs.**

**It made no sense. How could he write glowing words with a stick? But the image was bright and clear: ram's horns above a box and an X.**

"_**Open**_**," Sadie murmured. I stared at her, because it sounded like she had just translated the word, but that was impossible. I'd been hanging around Dad for years, and even I could read only a few hieroglyphs. They are seriously hard to learn.**

**Dad raised his arms. He chanted: "**_**Wo-seer, i-ei**_**." And two more hieroglyphic symbols burned blue against the surface of the Rosetta Stone.**

**As stunned as I was, I recognized the first symbol. It was the name of the Egyptian god of the dead.**

"**Wo-seer," I whispered. I'd never heard it pronounced that way, but I knew what it meant.** **"Osiris."**

"_**Osiris, come**_**," Sadie said, as if in a trance.**

"I _was_ in a trance," Sadie corrected.

**Then her eyes widened. "No!" she shouted. "Dad, no!"**

**Our father turned in surprise. He started to say, "Children—" but it was too late. The ground rumbled. The blue light turned to searing white, and the Rosetta Stone exploded.**

**When I regained consciousness, the first thing I heard was laughter—horrible, gleeful laughter mixed with the blare of the museum's security alarms.**

**I felt like I'd just been run over by a tractor. I sat up, dazed, and spit a piece of Rosetta Stone out of my mouth. The gallery was in ruins. Waves of fire rippled in pools along the floor. Giant statues had toppled. Sarcophagi had been knocked off their pedestals. Pieces of Rosetta Stone had exploded outward with such a force that they'd embedded themselves in the columns, the walls, the other exhibits.**

Zia winced. "_That_ bad?"

Carter nodded. "_That_ bad."

**Sadie was passed out next to me, but she looked unharmed. I shook her shoulder, and she grunted. "Ugh."**

**In front of us, where the Rosetta Stone had been, stood a smoking, sheared-off pedestal. The floor was blackened in a starburst pattern, except for the glowing blue circle around our father.**

**He was facing our direction, but he didn't seem to be looking at us. A bloody cut ran across his scalp.**

"Do you guys have ambrosia?" Percy asked " That would fix him up."

**He gripped the boomerang tightly.**

**I didn't understand what he was looking at. Then the horrible laughter echoed around the room again, and I realized it was coming from right in front of me.**

**Something stood between our father and us. At first, I could barely make it out—just a flicker of heat. But as I concentrated, it took on a vague form—the fiery outline of a man.**

**He was taller than Dad, and his laugh cut through me like a chainsaw.**

"**Well done," he said to my father. "Very well done, Julius."**

"**You were not summoned!" My father's voice trembled. He held up the boomerang, but the fiery man flicked one finger, and the stick flew from Dad's hand, shattering against the wall.**

"**I am never summoned, Julius," the man purred. "But when you open a door, you must be prepared for guests to walk through."**

"**Back to the Duat!" my father roared. "I have the power of the Great King!"**

"**Oh, scary," the fiery man said with amusement. "And even if you knew how to use that power, which you do not,**

"Yes he does," Carter said

**he was never my match. I am the strongest. Now you will share his fate."**

**I couldn't make sense with it, but I knew that I had to help my dad. I tried to pick up the nearest chunk of stone, but I was so terrified my fingers felt frozen and numb. My hands were useless.**

**Dad shot me a silent look of warning: **_**Get out**_**. I realized he was intentionally keeping the fiery man's back to us, hoping Sadie and I would escape unnoticed.**

"At least you got his message," Amos grumbled. Ugh, he didn't know if the Kane stubbornness is a curse or blessing.

**Sadie was still groggy. I managed to drag her behind a column, into the shadows. When she started to protest, I clamped my hand over her mouth. That woke her up.**

**She saw what was happening and stopped fighting.**

**Alarms blared. Fire circled around the doorways of the gallery. The guards had to be on their way, but I wasn't sure if that was a good thing for us.**

**Dad crouched to the floor, keeping his eyes on his enemy, and opened his painted wooden box. He brought out a small rod like a ruler. He muttered something under his breath and the rod elongated into a wooden staff as tall as he was.**

**Sadie made a squeaking sound. I couldn't believe my eyes either, but things only got weirder.**

"Things _always_ get weirder," Carter mumbled.

**Dad threw his staff at the fiery man's feet, and it changed into an enormous serpent—****ten feet long and as big around as I was—with coppery scales and glowing red eyes. It lunged at the fiery man, who effortlessly grabbed the serpent by its neck. The man's hand burst into white-hot flames, and the snake burned to ashes.**

"**An old trick, Julius," the fiery man chided.**

**My dad glanced at us, silently urging us again to run. Part of me refused to believe any of this was real. Maybe I was unconscious, having a nightmare. Next to me, Sadie picked up a chunk of stone.**

"**How many?" my dad asked quickly, trying to keep the fiery man's attention. "How many did I release?"**

"**Why, all five," the man said, as if explaining something to a child. "You should know we're a package deal, Julius. Soon I'll release even more, and they'll be grateful. I shall be named king again."**

"Not if we can help it," Carter retorted

"**The Demon Days," my father said. "They'll stop you before it's too late."**

**The fiery man laughed. "You think the House can stop me? Those old fools can't even stop arguing among themselves. Now let the story be told anew. And this time you shall **_**never**_** rise!"**

**The fiery man waved his hand. The blue circle at Dad's feet went dark. Dad grabbed for his toolbox, but it skittered across the floor.**

"**Good-bye, Osiris," the fiery man said. With another flick of his hand, he conjured a glowing coffin around our dad. At first it was transparent, but as our father struggled and pounded on its sides, the coffin became more and more solid—a golden Egyptian sarcophagus inlaid with jewels. My dad caught my eyes one last time, and mouthed the word **_**Run!**_** before the coffin sank into the floor, as if the ground had turned to water.**

Carter flinched at the reminder of the last time he saw his dad alive, as did Sadie and Amos.

"**Dad!" I screamed.**

**Sadie threw her stone,**

"Set isn't some mere mortal. That wouldn't hurt him."

**but it sailed harmlessly through the fiery man's head.**

**He turned, and for one terrible moment, his face appeared in the flames. What I saw made no sense. It was as if someone had superimposed two different faces on top of each other—one almost human, with pale skin, cruel, angular features, and glowing red eyes, the other like an animal with dark fur and sharp fangs. Worse than a dog or a wolf or a lion—some animal I'd never seen before. Those red eyes staring at me, and I knew I was going to die.**

"Nah dip, Sherlock." Sadie said. although the memory was still painful.

**Behind me, heavy footsteps echoed on the marble floor of the Great Court. Voices were barking orders. The security guards, maybe the police—but they'd never get here in time.**

**The fiery man lunged at us. A few inches from my face, something shoved him backward.**

"Horus and Isis," Carter answered to questioning faces. "It will explain." They had flown right in front of Set, pushed him, and went into Carter and Sadie's amulets.

**The air sparked with electricity. The amulet around my neck grew uncomfortably hot.**

**The fiery man hissed, regarding me more carefully. "So... it's **_**you**_**."**

**The building shook again. At the opposite end of the room, part of the wall exploded in a brilliant flash of light. Two people stepped through the gap—the man and the girl we'd seen at the Needle, their robes swirling around them. Both of them held staffs.**

Zia remembered that the amulet around _her_ neck had grown hot when that happened. She touched said-amulet. Though she never told anyone (except Iskandar, of course) she had always admired Nephthys. Her amulet was Nephthys symbol; a house with a basket on top.

**The fiery man snarled. He looked at me one last time and said, "Soon, boy."**

**Then the entire room erupted in flames. A blast of heat sucked all the air out of my lungs and I crumbled to the floor.**

"You really need a 20 gallon bag of ambrosia."

**The last thing I remember, the man with the forked beard and the girl in blue were standing over me. I heard the security guards running and shouting, getting closer. The girl crouched over me and drew a long curved knife from her belt.**

Zia winced. She _had _been unfair to the Kanes.

"**We must act quickly," she told the man.**

And once again, Zia winced.

"**Not yet," he said with some reluctance. His thick accent sounded French. "We must be sure before we destroy them."**

**I closed my eyes and drifted into unconsciousness.**

** "**The chapter ends there," Zia sadi, passing the book to Sadie

**Like it? Hate it? Think I should update faster? Review!**


	5. Imprisoned With My Cat

**I'm sorry about the update speed. I know you all hate me. My antivirus locked my FanFiction account, and it doesn't tell you on Google Chrome, so I only found out about it today. If you are in favor of a lemon, post your pairing in the reviews, If I find any Yaoi/Yuri lemons, I will IP ban you from posting reviews on this story. In other news, I have a new laptop. Any suggestions for fanfics? I'm open to suggestions for DBZ, Naruto, Harry Potter, History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi, the 39 Clues, Alex Rider, TMNT (2003 edition, I hate the new ones and the ones from the 80's) or even Avatar, the Last Airbender.  
**

Percy opened up the book. "It's in Sadie's POV!" Several groaned at this.

"**Imprisoned with My Cat**

**[Give me the bloody mic.]**

**Hullo. Sadie here. My brother's a rubbish storyteller.**

Several people cast askance glances at Sadie.

**Sorry about that. But now you've got me, so all is well.**

"Of course all is well," Walt said, with plenty of mirth in his voice,"This _is _Sadie we're talking about."

**Let's see. The explosion. Rosetta Stone in a billion pieces. Fiery evil bloke. Dad boxed in a coffin. Creepy Frenchman and Arab girl with the knife.**

Zia flinched.

**Us passing out. Right.**

**So when I woke up, the police were rushing about as you might expect. They separated me from my brother. I didn't really mind that part. He's a pain anyway.**

**But they locked me in the curator's for **_**ages**_**.**

"That's what annoys you," Carter said, "Have you lost your mind!"

"Actually, what annoyed me most was that they used _our _bicycle to lock us in the curator's office."

**And yes, they used our bicycle chain to do it! Cretins.**

" I guess some people never change," said Carter, with a queer expression," I mean, it's been several years since we recorded this."

Much to the amusement of everyone in the room, Sadie crept to a position behind Carter and struck his head with her wand. This produced a quite comical cartoon-sized welt on Carter's head, due to some weird magic.

**I was shattered, of course. I'd just been knocked out by a fiery whatever-it-was. I'd watch my dad get packed in a sarcophagus and shot through the floor. I tried to tell the police about all that, but did they care? No.**

"It's the Mist..." Percy began

"The what?"

"It's the force that keeps mortals from seeing things as we see them or believing stories of our worlds.

**Worst of all: I had a lingering chill, as if someone was pushing ice-cold needles into the back of my neck.**

"Maybe someone was," Connor Stoll said, with a wicked grin, "You can never be sure."

"SHUT UP," said everyone else.

**It had started when I looked at those at those blue glowing words Dad had drawn on the Rosetta Stone and I **_**knew**_** what they meant. A family disease, perhaps? Can knowledge of boring Egyptian stuff be hereditary?**

"In some cases, yes," Zia answered matter-of-factly.

**With my luck.**

**Long after my gum had gone stale, a policewoman finally retrieved me from the curator's office. She asked me no questions. She just trundled me into a police car and took me home. Even then, I wasn't allowed to explain to Gran and Gramps. The policewoman just tossed me into my room and I waited. And waited.**

**I don't like waiting.**

"I'm shocked," Carter exclaimed sarcastically, "and i was going to enroll you in the New York waiting contest!"

Remembering the still quite large welt on his head, Carter made sure to keep his distance from Sadie, although she looked mutinous.

**I paced the floor. My room was nothing posh, just an attic space with a window and a bed and a desk. There wasn't much to do. Muffin sniffed my legs and her tail puffed up like a bottlebrush. I suppose she doesn't fancy the smell of museums. She hissed and disappeared under the bed.**

"What does the goddess of cats have against museums?", Carter asked.

"Honestly, I don't know," Sadie replied.

"The goddess of cats?" Leo questioned dryly.

"Long story," chorused 4 voices.

"**Thanks a lot," I muttered.**

**I opened the door, but the policewoman was standing guard.**

"**The inspector will be with you in a moment," she told me. "Please stay inside."**

**I could see downstairs—just a glimpse of Gramps pacing the room, wringing his hands, while Carter and a police inspector talked on the sofa. I couldn't make out what they were saying.**

"**Could I just use the loo?" I asked the nice officer.**

"**No." She closed the ****door in my face. As if I might rig an explosion in the toilet. Honestly.**

Percy sheepishly grinned as Clarisse and Annabeth glared pointedly at him.

** (A/N: If you don't get this reference and you've read The Lightning Thief , you're stupid.)**

**I dug out my iPod and scrolled through my playlist. Nothing struck me. I threw it on my bed in disgust. When I'm too distracted for music, that is a very sad thing. **

"Very sad indeed, Sadie Kane," Carter mocked, "very sad indeed".

**I wondered why Carter got to talk to the police first.**

"He's older and more mature," Zia ventured, " Why wouldn't he get to talk to them first?"

Murmurs of agreement could be heard throughout the large room.

**It wasn't fair.**

"Really?"

**I fiddled with the necklace Dad had given me. I'd never been sure what the symbol meant. Carter's was obviously an eye, but mine looked a bit like an angel, or perhaps a killer alien robot.**

" A killer alien robot," Amos asked in astonishment, " That's your first impression of a _tyet_ ?"

" Of course it is," Carter mumbled after facepalming, "This is _Sadie_ we're talking about.'

All of the magicians laughed, while the demigods, excluding Annabeth, were hopelessly clueless.

" It's the symbol of Isis, the Egyptian goddess of magic," Amos explained.

" If she had insulted Hecate like that," Annabeth mumbled, looking at Sadie as if imagining her dead, or worst.

**Why on earth had Dad asked if I still had it? **_**Of course**_** I still had it.**

"Take pictures, it's a miracle," Leo jokingly exclaimed, "Sadie's being responsible!"

"You know what's sad, Carter said, shaking his head in regret,"I forgot my camera!"

**It was the only gift he'd ever given me. Well, apart from Muffin, and with the cat's attitude, I'm not sure I would call her a proper gift.**

"What are you doing," Sadie asked Zia as she took out her phone and started texting.

"Just texting Bast at Brooklyn House," she replied.

Carter _and_ Julian had to go into falcon avatar mode to get Sadie back into her chair, and this was without her wand. Felix's poor penguins vaporized.

**Dad had practically abandoned me at age six, after all.**

Jason and Zia both winced

"I get the drift," Jason noted, "i was practically raised by wolves after age three.

**The necklace was my one link to him. On good days I would stare at it and remember him fondly. ****On bad days (which were much more frequent) I would fling it across the room and stomp on it and curse him for not being around, which I found quite therapeutic.**

The room was silent except for Shelby.

"What does ferapotic mean?"

The occupants of the quite large room let out an uneasy laugh. Percy continued.

** But in the end, I always put it back on.**

"I'm surprised that you didn't trigger it's defensive magic," Amos said, amazed, "that amulet was quite powerful."

**At any rate, during the weirdness at the museum—and I'm not making this up—the necklace got **_**hotter**_**. I nearly took it off,**

"It's a good thing you didn't," Amos gratefully replied, "If you had..."

**but I couldn't help wondering if it truly was protecting me somehow.**

" OF COURSE IT WAS!"

_**I'll make things right**_**, Dad had said, with that guilty look he often gives me.**

Annabeth shifted uncomfortably

**Well, colossal fail, Dad.**

"I don't think colossal's the right word," Leo joked, "It's more of an epic or a huge, or a MASSIVE, or a..."

"SHUT UP," the entire room shouted.

**What had he been thinking?**

"Why don't you just ask him," Frank started, and then cut himself off with an embarrassed yet apologetic look, realizing that their father may have not been alive.

"It's OK," Sadie said.

** I wanted to believe it had all been a bad dream: the glowing hieroglyphs, the snake staff, the coffin. **

_ "_I can't believe I deluded myself into believing it was a dream," Sadie said, " No one has dreams that bad, or for that matter, that vivid."

**Things like that simply don't happen. But I knew better. I couldn't dream anything as horrifying as that fiery man's face when he'd turned on us. "Soon, boy," he'd told Carter, as if he intended to track us down. **

"Why is it that it's always easy for your enemies to find your whereabouts, but when you try to find something, it takes years," Percy complained.

Nods of agreement could be seen throughout the room.

**Just the idea made me tremble. I also couldn't help wondering about our stop at Cleopatra's Needle, how Dad had insisted on seeing it, as if he were steeling his courage, as if what he did at the British Museum had something to do with my mum.**

"It probably did," observed Hazel.

**My eyes wandered across my room and fixed on my desk.**

_**No**_**, I thought. **_**Not going to do it**_**.**

** '**_Not going to do what?' _Annabeth thought. She hated not knowing things.

**But I walked over and opened the drawer. I shoved aside a few old mags, my stash of sweets, a stack of maths homework I'd forgotten to hand in,**

"You actually did it," Carter exclaimed, as if it were a rare and unusual occurence.

"Of course I did it," Sadie quipped back, " Do you think I'm dense?"

"You magicians have it easy," Percy lamented, " We all have dyslexia, ADHD, or both!"

"Not all of us," Frank loudly reminded, " I'm a demigod spelling champion!"

** and a few pictures of me and my mates Liz and Emma ****trying on ridiculous hats in Camden Market. And there at the bottom of it all was the picture of Mum. ****Gran and Gramps had loads of pictures. They keep a shrine to Ruby in the hall cupboard—**

"It's quite mental," Sadie noted.

"Who wouldn't be weirded out by someone keeping a shrine to their dead daughter in their house 6 years after the event," Carter said.

**Mum's childhood artwork, her O-level results, her graduation picture from university, her favorite jewelry. It's quite mental.**

"It seems Sadie hasn't changed a bit," Zia joked.

**I was determined not to be like them, living in the past. I barely remembered Mum, after all, and nothing could change the fact she was dead.**

"Actually, If you pleaded with Hades for about a century," Percy started, but then stopped, realizing that the Egyptians had their own death god, so they must have their own Underworld.

**But I did keep the one picture. It was of Mum and me at our house in Los Angeles, just after I was born.**

" You lived in Los Angeles," Percy asked.

"Yes, until I was six," Sadie answered," but the person sitting next to me (Carter) developed an unhealthy obsession with the city's basketball team," Sadie said, hesitant to name his obsession.

** She stood out on the balcony, the Pacific Ocean behind her, holding a wrinkled pudgy lump of baby that would some day grow up to be yours truly. ****Baby me was not much to look at, but Mum was gorgeous, even in shorts and a tattered T-shirt. Her eyes were deep blue. Her blond hair was clipped back. Her skin was perfect. Quite depressing compared to mine. People always say I look like her, but I couldn't even get the spot off my chin much less look so mature and beautiful.**

"Stop smirking, Carter," Sadie said, wand ready to go.

**[Stop smirking, Carter.]**

"Weird," Leo said.

**The photo fascinated me because I hardly remembered our lives together at all. But the main reason I'd kept the photo was because of the symbol on Mum's T-shirt: one of those life symbols—an ankh. ****My dead mother wearing the symbol for life. Nothing could've been sadder.**

**But she smiled at the camera as if she knew a secret.**

"Because she did," Amos said.

** As if my dad and she were sharing a private joke.**

"I'm not so sure it was as much of a joke as a plan to save the world," Carter said.

"Amos, Sadie, Carter, Zia, Walt, and most of the initiates nodded in agreement.

Annabeth, who by now was being driven crazy by not knowing so much information, burst forward," SAVE THE WORLD FROM WHAT!"

The Egyptians secretively smiled, as if to say, '_You will find out later, my young Padawan'_

"You will find out later, my young Padawan," Leo said to annoy her.

Knowing that he knew nothing of what the world needed saving from, Annabeth walked across the room and knocked him unconscious with the flat of her celestial bronze dagger.

**Something tugged at the back of my mind. That stocky man in the trench coat who'd been arguing with Dad across the street—he'd said something about the Per Ankh. ****Had he meant **_**ankh**_** as in the symbol for life,**** and if so, what was a **_**per**_**? I supposed he didn't mean pear as in the fruit.**

**I had an eerie feeling that if I saw the words **_**Per Ankh**_** written in hieroglyphs, I would know what they meant.**

"You probably would," Amos said.

**I put down the picture of Mum. I picked up a pencil and turned over one of my old homework papers. I wondered what happen if I tried to **_**draw**_** the words **_**Per Ankh**_**. Would the right design just occur to me?**

"If hieroglyphs are anything like Ancient Greek for demigods, then yes," Annabeth affirmed.

**As I touched pencil to paper, my bedroom door opened. "Miss Kane?"**

"I never imagined someone putting a 'Miss' in front of your name," Carter snickered. Then, remembering the by now shrinking welt on his head, he retreated to the far corner of the room.

**I whirled and dropped the pencil.**

**A police inspector stood frowning in my doorway. "What are you doing?"**

"**Maths," I said.**

After casting an invisibility spell on himself, Carter spoke, " I don't think that's believable in any scenario."

**My ceiling was quite low, so the inspector had to stoop to come in. He wore a lint-colored suit that matched his gray hair and his ashen face. "Now then, Sadie. I'm Chief Inspector Williams. Let's have a chat, shall we? Sit down."**

**I didn't sit, and neither did he, which must've annoyed him. It's hard to look in charge when you're hunched over like Quasimodo.**

"**Tell me everything, please," he said, "from the time your father came round to get you."**

**So I told him everything. Why not? His left eyebrow crept higher and higher ****as I told him the strange bits like the glowing letters and serpent staff.**

"Before I penetrated his mind, I saw that he had the inkling to put you both in a mental facility for recuperation after the story you told him," Amos confided.

"**Well, Sadie," Inspector Williams said. "You've got quite an imagination."**

"**I'm not lying, Inspector. And I think your eyebrow is trying to escape."**

**He tried to look at his eyebrows, then scowled. **

Sadie snickered. "I can't believe he fell for that."

**"Now, Sadie, I'm sure this is very hard on you. I understand you want to protect your father's reputation. But he's gone now—"**

"**You mean through the floor in a coffin," I insisted. "He's **_**not**_** dead."**

"Very likely, Sadie Kane, very likely that he's alive," Leo said, in a perfect impression of Chiron. Annabeth knocked him out again.

**Inspector Williams spread his hands. "Sadie, I'm very sorry. But we must find out why he did this act of... well..."**

"**Act of **_**what**_**?"**

**He cleared his throat uncomfortably. "Your father destroyed priceless artifacts and apparently killed himself in the process. We'd very much like to know why."**

"He would have been horrified had he known the damage he had caused," Amos contradicted.

**I stared at him. "Are you saying my father's a terrorist? Are you **_**mad**_**?"**

"**We've made calls to some of your father's associates. I understand his behavior had become erratic since your mother's death. He'd become withdrawn and obsessive in his studies, spending more and more time in Egypt—"**

"He's an Egyptologist," Sadie shouted, "Of course he would spend a lot of time in Egypt!"

"**He's a bloody Egyptologist! You should be looking for him, not asking stupid questions!"**

"Creepy," the Stoll brothers said in unison.

**(A/N: They're not twins. I hate it when people think they're twins.)**

"**Sadie," he said, and I could hear in his voice that he was resisting the urge to strangle me.**

"Very hard to do," Carter said, not realizing his invisibility spell had worn off. Sadie turned him into a fly and then summoned a flyswatter from the Duat.

** Strangely, I get this a lot from adults.**

"I wonder why," Jason said in mock puzzlement.

"**There are extremist groups in Egypt that object to Egyptian artifacts being kept in other countries' museums. These people might have approached your father. Perhaps in his state, your father became an easy target for them.**

" The inspector's talking about Dad like he was a raving madman," Carter said after managing to wriggle out of fly form, looking hurt.

** If you've heard him mention any names—"**

" Even if he was a terrorist, he wouldn't have confided in children," Leo joked, " Troublemakers are a lot more careful."

**I stormed past him to the window. I was so angry I could hardly think. I refused to believe Dad was dead. No, no, no. And a terrorist? Please. Why did adults have to be so thick? They always say "tell the truth," and when you do, they don't believe you. What's the point?**

"He's just a mortal," Reyna said, "Cut his tiny brain some slack."

The room's occupants nodded in agreement.

**I stared down at the dark street. Suddenly that cold tingly feeling got worse than ever. I focused on the dead tree where I'd met Dad earlier. Standing there now, in the dim light of a streetlamp, looking up at me, was the pudgy bloke in the black trench coat**

"I'm not pudgy," Amos protested.

"Yes you are," the entire room chorused.

** and the round glasses and the fedora—the man Dad had called Amos.**

**I suppose I should've felt threatened by an odd man staring up at me in the dark of night. But his expression was full of concern.**

**And he looked **_**so**_** familiar. It was driving me mad that I couldn't remember why.**

"Perhaps it's the fact that I'm your uncle," Amos suggested.

**Behind me, the inspector cleared his throat. "Sadie, no one blames you for the attack on the museum. We understand you were dragged into this against your will."**

" No one considers something that they've been unwillingly dragged into 'Brilliant', Carter said, referring to Sadie's earlier comment about chaining the curator in his office."

**I turned from the window. "Against my will? I chained the curator in his office."**

"And you give evidence against yourself when questioned by the police," Zia questioned, " I'm starting to doubt that you have a 142 IQ"

" I do!," Sadie protested, " I was just trying to protect my father and clarify things with the inspector!"

"I never believed that your IQ was 142. That IQ test was free, meaning it probably wasn't legitimate."

**The inspector's eyebrow started to creep up again. **

"As is normal for mortals," Chiron said, stating the obvious.

**"Be that as it may, surely you didn't understand what your father meant to do. Possibly your brother was involved?"**

"Rule keeper!," Leo, Sadie, the Stoll brothers, and Percy said again.

"He doesn't know the first thing about covert actions or mischief," Sadie explained, " He's a complete geek."

"There's nothing wrong with keeping rules," Jason attested. Carter fist bumped him.

**I snorted. "Carter? Please."**

"**So you are determined to protect him as well. You consider him a proper brother, do you?"**

"What's that supposed to mean!," Carter and Sadie exclaimed in unison. "Is it because we don't look alike?"

"Sorry, Carter said apologetically towards the several demigods who raised their eyebrows in their direction, "It's just that we get it a lot."

**I couldn't believe it. I wanted to smack his face.**

"With your temper, I'm surprised you didn't," Carter noted.

** "What's that supposed to mean? Because he doesn't **_**look**_** like me?"**

**The inspector blinked. "I only meant—"**

"**I **_**know**_** what you meant. Of course he's my brother!"**

**Inspector Williams held up his hands apologetically, but I was still seething. ****As much as Carter annoyed me, ****I hated it when people assumed we weren't related, or looked at my father askance when he said the three of us were a family—like we'd done something wrong. Stupid Dr. Mater**

"Mater," Jason snickered, " It means mother in Latin," he said to the several Egyptians who were gazing at him in puzzlement.

** at the museum. Inspector Williams. It happened every time Dad and Carter and I were together. **_**Every**_** bloody time.**

"**I'm sorry, Sadie," the inspector said. "I only want to make sure we separate the innocent from the guilty. It will go much easier for everyone if you cooperate. Any information. Anything your father said. people he might've mentioned."**

"**Amos," I blurted out, just to see his reaction. ****"He met a man named Amos."**

"And how does that help," Butch said, knowing from his cop dad that the police would call any close reactions while or before questioning those on a crime scene.

"The last time she had seen me was at her sixth birthday party," Amos explained, " She didn't readily recognize me.

**Inspector Williams sighed. "Sadie, he couldn't have done. Surely you know that. We spoke with Amos not one hour ago, on the phone from his home in New York." **"**He isn't in New York!" I insisted. "He's right—"**

**I glanced out the window and Amos was gone. Bloody typical.**

"Sorry about that," Amos hastily apologized, " I couldn't have them digging further and finding out about the restraining order the Per Ankh had made sure was put between us in both England and the United States."

"They did that," Sadie shrieked. "I can't believe they were that strict!"

"For the millionth time, WHAT'S THE PER ANKH," inquisitive Annabeth almost screamed.

"Don't worry Wise Girl," Percy comforted her, "I'm sure we'll find out soon enough."

"**That's not possible," I said.**

"_Really_, Captain Obvious," Carter sarcastically quipped, " I'm shocked!"

"**Exactly," the inspector said."**

"**But he was here!" I exclaimed. "Who **_**is**_** he? One of Dad's colleagues? How did you know to call him?"**

"**Really, Sadie. This acting must stop."**

_'__It does seem like when one doesn't recognize their uncle,'_ Sadie realized upon hearing her words spoken by Percy.

"_**Acting**_**?"**

"It does seem hard to believe," Percy halfheartedly agreed, " I wouldn't have believed you if I was in his position.

**The inspector studied me for a moment, then set his jaw as if he'd made a decision.**

"Because he probably had, Captain Obvious," Carter said, starting again. One menacing look from Sadie had him quiet and docile.

"**We've already had the truth from Carter. I didn't want to upset you, but he told us everything. He understands there's no point protecting your father now.**

"I can't believe the nerve of him," Sadie thought back, "Lying to children, for one..."

Percy cut off the impending rant by starting to read again.

**"You might as well help us, and there will be no charges against you."**

"**You shouldn't lie to children!" I yelled, hoping my voice carried all the way downstairs.**

"It did," Carter remembered, " Gran spilled her tea on the carpet."

"**Carter would never say a word against Dad, and neither will I!"**

"Bravo," shouted half of the room.

**The inspector didn't even have the decency to look embarrassed.**

"He was a total jerk," Sadie said, reflecting her earlier sentiment.

**He crossed his arms. "I'm sorry you feel that way, Sadie. I'm afraid it's time we went downstairs... to discuss consequences with your grandparents."**

"Ooh," Sadie said mockingly. "Scary."

Percy passed the book to Amos.

**Like it? Hate it? Think I update _wwwwwwwwwwwwwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyy yyyyyyyyyyyyyyy _too slow? Review, Review, Review!**

**~Wolfzee**


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